Dr. Joe Thompson, Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, discusses childhood obesity in the U.S. and answers questions from callers during the live segment. Click here to view the recording.

Active Living Research supports research to inform policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity among children and adolescents, decreasing their sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity. Emphasis is placed on strategies with the potential to reach children and youths ages 3-18 who are at highest risk for obesity: African-American, Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander children, as well as children who live in under-resourced and lower-income communities. Grants funded under this call for proposals (CFP) are expected to advance RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. This CFP consists of grant opportunities for specified research topics and dissertation awards. It also includes funding opportunities for New Connections grants made available through the Active Living Research program. Proposals are due April 14. For more information, visit: Active Living Research and New Connections Grant Opportunities.

The National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN) commissioned a paper on front-of package nutrition rating systems. The paper "Stumped at the Supermarket: Making Sense of Nutrition Rating Systems" describes the many front-of-package nutrition rating systems and grocery shelf rating systems, as well as challenges with multiple systems and federal regulatory issues. Click here to read the article.

The Center recently provided comments and recommendations on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food Packages rule. Click here to read recommendations.

The National Center for Bicycling & Walking (NCBW) has announced a call for proposals to present at the 16th biennial Pro Walk / Pro Bike® conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee on September 13-17, 2010.

Click here to learn more about the conference and to submit your online proposal.

The conference theme is “Bringing Livable Communities and Regions to Scale.” Chattanooga and the southeast region will serve up many examples of what can be done in small and mid-size cities and rural regions to make livable communities come to life. And in keeping with the Pro Walk / Pro Bike® big tent tradition, the group is inviting practitioners and advocates from coast to coast and around the globe to form geographically and experientially diverse teams to submit panel sessions and interactive workshops. 

The deadline for submitting a proposal is February 26, 2010. 
 

$15 Million Investment Will Engage Residents in Communities of Color and Indigenous Nations

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded grants of up to $250,000 to 10 local advocacy organizations to plan and implement community-based strategies to build and sustain healthy neighborhoods from East Los Angeles to Harlem.

The 10 groups are funded through Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE), a new RWJF national program, and will organize community residents to become more involved in the policy-making process and build public support for changes to help families lead healthier lives. Click here to learn more.
 

The center has identified 14 action steps using the 12 priority action steps identified by the Institute of Medicine and two additional school-based ones, to focus on setting policy and technical assistance priorities. These steps will drive the center’s efforts for policy changes that make the healthy choice the easy choice. This table highlights the various resources (products, tools, research briefs, and other resources) available from the center's network of RWJF allies and external organizations. The resources are intended to help policymakers implement the targeted action steps and drive policy change.

To view the table go to: RWJF Center Products, Tools, and Research Briefs Linked to Local Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity.

 
This center produced document highlights the leading policies, from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Leadership for Healthy Communities (LHC), that are most likely to change the local landscape to enable our children to achieve a healthy lifestyle and enable communities to reverse the obesity epidemic.
Click here to view this chart: Highlights of Key Local Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has developed a communications initiative called “Growing Community,” to help educate and inspire communities into action to prevent childhood obesity. The RWJF Center has analyzed and reported on the initiative's best practices in Texas Bringing Healthy Back: Growing Community. This collection of four case studies highlights successful community-based change strategies across the state and includes links to the short video series. 

Click here to read, Texas Bringing Healthy Back: Growing Community.

To read other case studies, click here.

As Congress looks to the reauthorizations of the Child Nutrition and WIC and Elementary and Secondary Education Acts next year, and the Head Start Reauthorization in coming years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity (RWJF Center) is providing information to help policymakers and their staff understand how environments in childcare settings across the nation affect children’s eating habits and physical activity levels...